Our last day in California was a “catch up” day. We had purchased park hopper tickets because we weren’t really sure at the time of buying our tickets what our day to day plans would include. We literally only park hopped once the entire trip and it was on this morning! Guess we could have done without that addition on our tickets – oops!
We truly had seen and done IT ALL during the week already. In only 3 park days, 1 of which we took a break for naps and two of which had shorter park hours.
There are many differences in California Parks vs Florida Parks but I will say you need LESS TIME to do it all in California. I do not, however, regret having that fourth day.
Not only did we need it in order to be able to see the night shows but it was SO nice having that time to do things we loved again and to have extra experiences outside of just the “must do” items. Plus knowing we had that day allowed our other park days to be more relaxed as if we didn’t get to something we knew we’d be able to on that 4th park day.
This cutie brings us joy every morning!
Being our last day I really tried to take it ALL IN. Little details I was worried I’d forget once we left…like these adorable “hidden Mickey” benches!
We only had ONE reason we went to Disneyland that morning and since the attraction we were wanting to ride had a FastPass available we had plenty of free time!
That meant kicking things off at…BUZZ! Of course!
First ones to ride for the day!
Zach had the highest score…and Kye had the 4th highest which he was SO EXCITED about 🙂
We had to get some good Buzz themed pics in our Toy Story attire 🙂 I didn’t hesitate in doing a Toy Story theme for our day since the new Toy Story land is open at DHS I knew we’d get to wear it all again!
The “4” is for getting the 4th highest score 😉
Zach’s shirt is by Oh Yeah Apparel
My top is by Happily Ever Tees
My skirt is Ali Express! I LOVE it and have multiple colors 🙂
Y’all. We got MASSIVE compliments on the girls dresses…they are from ALI EXPRESS. As in China. As in they look handmade but cost under $15 each! SCORE!!!!
I’ve ordered several things from this shop! ALL great quality. But be sure to order UP in size! Britt wears a size 6 but I ordered the 8T and Tess wears a 4T and I ordered the 6T for her!
No matter when you plan your trip to Disney or Disneyland you have to expect closures. We were BUMMED that the Matterhorn was closed our entire trip…as was Enchanted Tiki Room. Boo!
Since we had the time we decided to ride Pirates for a second time. Because it’s AMAZING 😉
THE reason we were at Disneyland that morning? Was for Haunted Mansion. I have heard about the Halloween overlay they do at the Disneyland location of Haunted Mansion. They don’t do anything like it at the Magic Kingdom location so I was curious to check it out.
We lucked OUT on the timing of our trip that everything transitioned into Halloween while we were there. Our last day at the parks was the first official day of the Halloween (Space Mountain had transitioned earlier to their overlay so Zach and Kye had already ridden it).
We were SO PUMPED to experience The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay!!! The girls are OBSESSED with Nightmare Before Christmas so I knew that alone would be awesome.
But y’all. I was unprepared for just how incredible this attraction was going to be. They didn’t just keep the same experience and stick some Jack Skeleton stuff up. Nope. They COMPLETELY redid Haunted Mansion. It was AMAZING.
The entire interior of the experience was different. The dark room was different. The walkway to the ride. And the total ride itself.
Hands down this was the coolest attraction of our trip in my opinion. I was basically freaking out I was so excited!!!! If you plan a trip to visit Disneyland FOR SURE visit when Haunted Mansion is holiday themed!!!
I took several videos: video 1, video 2 and video 3
While we were riding Pirates the kids kept talking about how the three drops on Pirates were worse than the drops on Splash Mountain.
We looked it up and the larger drop on Pirates was almost as long as the larger drop on Splash Mountain…at least in the Disneyland location (Magic Kingdom is MUCH longer of a drop).
I have never, ever ridden Splash. I have never, ever had a desire to.
On my 25th birthday I made a deal with Zach if he rode It’s a Small World that I’d ride Splash. I went through the line. I sat in the ride seat. And I freaked out and exited before the ride took off.
It gives me anxiety thinking about that dang drop. I’ve seen people drop down it SO MANY TIMES that I never want to be the one dropping. Nope. No thanks.
Buttttt considering I handle the pirates drop just fine I figured while at Disneyland I might as well put on my brave big girl panties and get over a mega Disney fear. Gotta YOLO right?!?
The log seats are designed for single rider but there is a wider seat in the back where both Tess and I could fit so she sat with me and was my brave ride buddy. It was neat finally getting to hear “zippity do dah!”
I made it on the ride! Big step there (and look at that lucky number of our seat!!!)
The kids all rode with their arms up the whole time. I tried to be brave and do it with them. But omg I couldn’t. Zach was cracking up b/c I said “I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” I was referring to my arms up but he thought I was saying I couldn’t do the ride and he was thinking “Um too late” haha
The positive: shorter falls than MK version
The negative: multiple falls. I did one only to have to be brave again for the next!
My kids are braver than me haha
Yes, I’m clinging to my 4 year old for dear life haha
I told the kids I hope they enjoyed that experience. I’m proud of myself for conquering that fear but Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom? IS NEVER HAPPENING. EVER.
Tess was so super proud for being brave to help Mommy be brave too 😉 She took full credit for my ability to ride it haha!
I’ve always heard that Disneyland has wandering characters. And that’s semi-true. Yes. Characters are seen walking around much more often but they don’t technically “wander.” Lines are still formed waiting for them. And we just aren’t super huge into waiting in line for characters.
If it was JUST Britt and I? We’d be ALL ABOUT IT but the guys really aren’t into it and since character meet and greets are super hard to schedule and plan for since they are so random, we just don’t do them often.
We did love seeing characters we never see at home though!
Want to get a good reaction out of a Disney villain? Call them the wrong name haha.
I am just a Disney girl. I love the rides. I love the characters. I love the shows. But I especially love just the little moments. The quiet ones. The ones where you can truly sit and take it all in.
Along with the Halloween decor and ride overlays, special Halloween snacks were also available that day for the first time that season (it was fun seeing all the Disney influencers snatching up all the merch for their blogs…if I could choose ANY career I’d totally be a Disney influencer/blogger. We’d have to move closer to the parks though…maybe I can be one as a Grandma haha!).
I had researched some of the must-try snacks and we saved our churro for the last day! Churros are a big deal in California and it was a must-have in my book while we were there! It’s the only snack I remember eating there when I visited as a child!
Malificent Churros – cookie crumbs on top and a marshmallow dipping sauce!
After our snack we hopped on over to Disney’s California Adventure! And soaked in all the Halloween details!
As part of their holiday theming California Adventure had an entire Coco section!
Kye “I’m OVER PICTURES MOM”
Btw…people asked where I got Kye’s shirt: It’s from Amazon!
(older boys are tricky with Disney stuff…I try hard to make sure Kye actually LIKES the clothes I buy for him!)
For lunch we got…PIZZA. Shocker haha
Zach grew up loving a local place called Corn Dog 7 that sold cheese on a stick. It’s a tough thing to find but they have cheese filled corndogs at California Adventure! SCORE! We got them last visit and had to have ’em again!
A MUCH improved redo from our pictures on our first DCA day! I felt rude asking the photo pass photographer to be sure she got the ferris wheel in the background but she was above and beyond sweet about it all and really went out of her way to get AWESOME pics of our crew!!! I LOVE these!
When at Pixar Pier…You KNOW what we had to ride!!!
Practicing her fierce face 😉
“I’m an alien! Don’t shoot me!”
Toy Story Mania for LIFE!
There is NO WHERE at Disney World to meet Zootopia’s Nick and Judy. They do a together meet and greet at DCA and I really wanted the kids to get to meet them both…but only Nick was there when we happened to walk by and with no wait I figured better to just meet Nick than not get to meet either of them!
Any guesses what Bug’s Land is being converted into??? There is a BIG CLUE in this picture!!! (I just love all the little details Disney thinks of!)
We had a SUPER late night that night and flew out pretty early the next morning so we headed back to the room to rest. No napping happened but lots of packing and just relaxing!
ONE LAST CALI POST to come!!! Whew. It’s taken me a while to work through them all but man it was such an incredible trip and had one great ending too!
